Grain measuring and sacking device



, Jan. 14, 1941. s. g. FINCH 2,228,595

GRAIN MEASURING AND SACKING DEVICE FiledApz-il 3, 1940 2 Shee'ts-Sh eet 1 2/ 4, flpencerfljinaio Jan. 14, 1941. s, FINCH' 2,228,595 3 GRAIN MEASURING AND SACKING DEVICE 69 n. v 6 $6 v INVENTOR ATTOR N EYS '55 advantages of the invention. bottom portions of the rear and front walls to 55 Patented Jan. 14, 1941 t I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,228,595 cam masuamo AND sacrum DEVICE Spencer E. Finch, Bailey, N. 0.

Application April 3, 1940, Serial No. 327,709

7 Claims. (01. 221-95) This invention relates to a grain measuring and In the accompanying drawings forming a part sacking device particularly adapted to combines of this specification: and has for an object to provide a device of this Figure 1 is a plan view of a grain measuring and character having a hopper divided into two comsacking device constructed in accordance with the partments of oneor two-bushel capacity, one of invention. 5 which may be filled while the contents of the other Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the is being bagged, there being a single swingabiy device taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1. mounted spout for alternately filling the compart- Figure 3 is a cross sectional viewof the device ments, said spout being moved to operable positaken on the line 3-3 of Figure 2 showing the tion by a manually operable leveler blade adapted delivery spout dotted in various positions of its 10 to level oil the top of a filled compartment as it swinging movement. moves the spout to the delivery position over the Figure 4 is a cross sectional view of the device other compartment. taken on the line 4-4 of Figure 3, showing the A further object is to provide a device of this valves for controlling the outlet openings and character having a deformable partition wall in showing the deformable partitions and their ad- 15 each compartment and means for deforming the lusting means for varying the cubical contents of wall to vary the cubical content of the compartthe compartments. ment. Figure 5 is a front elevation of the counting A further object is to provide a device of this device with the cover removed.

character having a single vertically disposed shaft Figure 6 is a detail sectional view of one of the 20 which may be operated from the top or from the bag holders.

. bottom, and which is connected to the leveler Figure 7 is a detail front elevation of the catch blade for swinging the leveler blade to either of for yieldably holding the vertically disposed shaft its two limits of movement, there being a shaft rocked axially to either limit of its movement.

above the first-named shaft and disposed horl- Figure 8 is a detail cross sectional view taken 25 zontally in the casing for mounting the spout I! on theline 8-8 of Figure 4 showing the locking and to be turned on a horizontal axis when struck means between one of the mechanically operated by the leveler blade. valves and associated manually operated valve.

A further object is to provide a device of this Figure 9 is a plan view of one of the mechanicalcharacter having a centrally pivoted rocking link 1y operated valves for controlling a respective de- 30 connected to a handle on the upper end of the livery opening.

vertically disposed shaft and connected to count- Figure 10 is a detail sectional view of the leveler lng mechanism for counting the, number of bushels blade locking device and grain operated control in filled bags. flap therefor.

A further object is to provide a device of this Figure 11 is a cross sectional view taken on the 35 character having pivoted valves connected to the line ll-ll of Figure 10.

lower end of the vertically extending shaft and Figure 12 is a rearelevation of the notched bar adapted to close the outlet opening of one of the of the leveler blade locking device. compartments and unseal the outlet opening of Figure 13 is a cross sectional view of the bag the other compartment simultaneously with moveholder taken on the line I 3-l 3 of Figure 6.

ment of the spout to compartment filling position. Referring now to the drawings in which like A further object is to provide apparatus of this characters of reference designate similar parts in character which will be formed of a few strong the various views, l0 designates a hopper having simple and durable parts, which will be inexpenan arcuate rear wall I I and two converging front sive to'manufacture, and which will not easily walls l2, all of the walls being inclined toward the get out of order. vertical axis of the hopper at the bottom as shown With the above and other objects in view the inin Figures 2 and 3. Windows ii are formed near vention consists of certain novel details of con the bottom of the fr n walls hr ugh which the struction and combinations of parts hereinafter interior of the hopper may be viewed. A vertical fully described and claimed, it being understood P tition H is dispos centrally in e hopper t that various modifications may be resorted to divide the hopper into two compartments IS. The within the scope of the appended claims without partition is provided at the bottom with diverging departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the branch walls l6, which co-act with the inclined form triangular discharge openings 3, as best shown in Figures 1 and 4.

A pair of deformable partition walls l1, preferably formed of resilient sheet metal, are secured at the upper ends to the partition wall H by rivets I8, or other connectors, and these deformable walls extend downward to the bottom of the hopper compartments inside of a respective branch wall I6. AcUusting screws I! are threadedly engaged in threaded bosses formed on the diverging branch walls H5 and engage the deformable partition walls I! to bow out the walls and vary the cubical capacity of each compartment. Lock nuts 2|] are disposed on the adjusting screws.

The discharge openings are controlled by respective valves 2| in the nature of plates of the general shape shown best in Figure 9. Each valve is provided at one end with a hinge lug 22 which is pivotally secured to a base plate 23 by a pivot pin 24. The base plate is secured to the inclined branch walls l6 by angular brackets 25 and is cut away to expose the discharge opening 9. The valves 2| are mechanically operated as will presently be described to slide laterally on the base plate 23 and respectively open one of the discharge openings and seal the other discharge opening.

superposed on each valve 2| is a manually operable valve 8 of substantially the same shape as the valve 2|. The valve 8 is mounted on the pivot pin 24 of the valve 2| and is provided with a handle 1 to close the valve independently of the valve 2i. Interfitting pressed-up catches 6, best shown in Figure 8, yieldably hold the valves 2| and 8 for operation as a unit.

The hopper i is adapted to be secured to a combine 26 by angle bracket 21 and brace rods 28 which co-act to support the hopper vertically on the delivery end of the combine. The elbow portion 29 of the delivery pipe 30 of the combine extends downwardly through an opening in the rear wall I of the hopper at the top of the hopper, as best shown in Figures 1 and 2.

A delivery spout 3| is provided at the upper end with an upwardly inclined elbow portion 32 which telescopically receives the downwardly inclined elbow portion 29 of the combine delivery pipe. The elbow portion 32 is rotatably received in a sleeve bearing 33 which is secured by angle clamp rings 34 to the edge portions of the opening which receives the discharge elbow of the combine delivery pipe, as best shown in Figures 1 and 2. Pressed-out annular ribs 35 are formed on the elbow portion 32 of the delivery spout 3| and engage opposite ends of the sleeve bearing to hold the delivery spout against endwise movement in the bearing while permitting free rotation of the delivery spout in the nature of a pendulum from the top of one compartment to the top of the other compartment, as shown by dotted lines in Figure 3.

A shaft 36, provided with a crank 31, is fixed at one end as shown at 38 to the delivery spout and is journaled at the opposite end in a bearing 39 disposed at the meeting longitudinal edges of the front walls l2, as best shown in Figure 2. This shaft provides means for pulling the delivery spout from one operative position to the other operative position as will now be described.

A leveler blade 40, formed of a substantially rectangular blank of sheet metal folded upon itself as shown in Figure 3, is disposed above the top of the partition i4 and is pivoted at the bearing 39 to swing horizontally across the hopper from one front end wall i2 to the other front end wall l2 for the purpose of leveling off grain in a too full compartment and scraping the excess into the empty compartment. A link chain 4| is connected to the crank 31 of the shaft 36 and is connected to the top of the leveler blade at the center of the blade, as best shown in Figure l to permit the blade to pull the spout 3| to operative position above either compartment.

A vertically disposed shaft 42 is mounted to turn axially in a vertical bearing opening 43 formed in the bearing 39 and is fixed to the blade to form a pivot for the blade. A handle lever 44 is fixed to the upper end of the shaft and projects through a horizontal slot 45 in the hopper above the bearing 39 to rock the shaft 42 axially.

when the handle lever is swung to the left the shaft 42 will turn axially and will swing the leveler blade 40 horizontally to the right across the top of the partition l4 to its limit of movement against the inner face of the right front wall i2 as shown by full lines in Figure 1. However, before the leveler blade has reached its limit of movement it will have taken up the slack in the chain 4| and turned the shaft 36 to swing the delivery spout pendulum-wise toextend above the right compartment of the hopper. During the initial movement of the leveler blade from the dotted-line position shown in Figure 3, it will strike against the spout and start the pendulumlike swinging movement of the spout to the right and will ride underneath the spout when the spout reaches the top of its pendulum swing, then will continue on to its way to its final lodging place against the front end wall i2 of the hopper, meanwhile pulling the chain taut to hold the spout above the top of the right compartment.

When the handle lever 44 Ls moved to the right instead of the left, the above-described movements of the leveler blade and spout are reversed to lodge the leveler blade against the left front wall l2 of the hopper and to dispose the delivery spout 3| to overhang the left compartment of the hopper.

When the delivery spout 3| is discharging into one of the compartments the valve 2| controlling the delivery opening of that compartment must be closed while the valve of the other compartment must be open to permit the contents of the said other compartment being bagged while the first-named compartment is filling. To accomplish this the lower end of the vertically disposed pivot shaft 42 is equipped with a handle lever 46. A transversely disposed link 41 is pivotally secured intermediate its end to the handle lever 46 as shown at 48. Rods 49 are pivotally connected to respective valves 2| as shown at 50 and are pivotally connected to respective ends of the link as shown at As best shown in Figure 4 when either the handle lever 44 or the handle lever 45 is melted to the left to swing the delivery spout to overhang the right compartment of the hopper, the rod 49 of the valve 2| controlling the delivery opening in the right hopper will be pulled forwardly to rock the valve to closed position. Simultaneously the rod 49 which is connected to the other valve 2| will be pushed rearwardly and will open the other valve 2| to permit the contents of the left compartment in the hopper to be discharged and bagged while the right compartment in the hopper is being filled with grain.

For securing empty bags Hill in position to be filled below each discharge opening 9 of the hopper a rectangular frame 52 is bolted to the plate 23. Rollers 53 are Journaled in the frameand are provided with spurs which are hooked through the material of the mouth. of the bag to hold the bag open while it is being filled. A manually operable shaft 54 is journaled in the frame and is provided with crank eyes 55 which receive crank arms 55' which project from the rollers. By turning the shaft in one direction the spurs are engaged with the bag and by turning the shaft in the opposite direction the spurs are released from the bag.

Mechanism for counting the filled bags is shown best in Figure 5. A rock link 56 is pivoted on a bracket 51, shown best in Figure 1, which is disposed on the outer faces of the meeting longitudinal edges of the front wall [2 as shown at 58. The upper end of the link is provided with a fork 59 to receive the upper handle lever 44 which latter rocks the link on its pivot each time the handle lever is operated to swing the spout from one compartment to the other compartment. A rod 60 is connected to thelower end of the link and is connected to the outer end of a bell crank lever 6| which is pivoted on a pivot pin 62 which projects from one of the front walls I2 within a casing 63.

A counting-wheel 64, in the nature of a ratchet wheel, is loosely mounted on a shaft 64' which projects from the wall of the hopper. A dog 65 is pivoted on the wall of the hopper and engages the ratchet wheel to prevent the ratchet wheel from turning backward. 'A pawl 66 is pivotally connected to the bell crank lever 6| and engages the ratchet wheel to advance the ratchet wheel one step each time the delivery spout is moved from one compartment to the other compartment. The teeth of the ratchet wheel are numbered consecutively and a sight opening 6! formed in the front wall of the casing exposes the numbers consecutively as the ratchet wheel is turned to indicate the number of filled bags.

For yieldably latching the delivery spout in operative position and simultaneously yieldably latching one of the valves 2| closed and the other valve open an arcuate bar 68 is secured to the inclined partition walls and projects across the,

top of the lower handle lever 46. The bar is provided in its lower edge with spaced notches 69 which receive the handle lever when swung to its right or to its left limit of movement and which yieldably hold the handle lever stationary until the handle lever is manually dislodged.

For permitting the leveler blade to be manually operated only when there is a full compartment of grain in the hopper, and thus preventing false counting by the counting wheel, an arcuate bar I is secured at the ends to the front walls ll of the hopper and is disposed below the shaft 36, as best shown in Figure 1. The bar is provided in its bottom edge with notches H, as best shown in Figure 12. A latch bar 12, best shown in Figure 10, is pivoted intermediate itsends on the upper edge of the leveler blade and rides with its free end beyond the bottom edge of the bar 10 to lodge in either one of the notches H. The notches II are so positioned that the blade may move a short distance before it arrives into a notch and the notches have inclined sides which permit the blade to be moved back again if the compartment is not filled with grain. A link 13 is connected to the free end of the latch bar I2 and is engaged between the double walls of the leveler blade, as best shown in Figure 11. Pivotally mounted on the lower frame rod 14 of the leveler blade is a control fiap 15 provided with a cam head 16 having oppositely disposed high points 11. The lower end-of the rod]! rests upon the cam headand the side walls of the leveler blade are provided with recesses I8 which will permit the high points of the cam head riding onto the leveler blade. I

When the compartment is full, the leveler blade may be manually swung and during the initial swinging movement the grain in the topof the filled compartment will swing the flap 15 upwardly to the dotted line position shown in Figure 11 to push up the rod 13 and release the latch bar l2- from the notch that it may be in, so that the swinging movement of the level blade may be continued. However, if the compartment is only partly full the control fiap will not move and when an attempt is made to swing'the leveler blade the latch bar 12 will lodge in one of the notches and prevent the completing of the swinging of the blade across the top of the compartment.

When one of the mechanically operated valves is in closed position and the compartment thereabove is filling, the other mechanically operated valve is, of course, open. The operator may close the manually operated valve 9 of the open valve to prevent any grain spilling out of the delivery opening should the compartment which is being filled overflow. By glancing through the windows I3 from time to time the operator may determine when a compartment is full by noting that grain is falling into an empty compartment. But this grain cannot be wasted since the manually operated valve is closed. He may now grasp either the handle 44 or the handle 46 and swing the vertically disposed shaft 43 to rock the leveler blade over the top of the filled compartment to level off the surplus grain and push it ahead of it into the empty compartment as the blade moves the delivery spout to delivery position over the empty compartment. During this movement of the blade the automatically operated valve of the empty compartment is, of course, automatically closed as above described and latches itself to the closed manually operated valve to carry the latter with it as a unit to open position when the empty compartment is filled and ready to be delivered into the bag.

Since the operation of the parts has been described as the description of the parts progressed, it is thought the. invention will be fully understood without further explanation.

What is claimed is:

1. A grain measuring and sacking apparatus comprising, 'a hopper having spaced compartments, 3. swingably mounted spout on the hopper for alternately filling the compartments, a, leveler blade in the hopper adapted to level off the top of a filled compartment and to move thespout to delivery position over the empty compartment, means for moving the blade, valves controlling respective discharge openings in the bottom of the compartments, and means connected to the leveler blade and adapted to close the valve of an empty compartment and open the valve of a filled compartment as the leveler blade moves the spout to delivery position over the empty compartment.

2. A grain measuring and sacking apparatus comprising, a hopper having spaced compartments, a swingably mounted spout on the hopper for alternately filling the compartments, a leveler blade in the hopper adapted to level off the top of a filled compartment and move the spout to delivery position over an empty compartment,

means for moving the blade, a deformable partition wall in each compartment, means for def rm ng the wall to vary the cubical capacity of the compartment, valves controlling respective discharge openings in the bottom of the compartments, and means connected to the leveler blade and adapted to close the valve of an empty compartment and open the valve of a filled compartment as the leveler blade moves the spout to delivery position over the empty compartment.

3. A grain measuring and sacking apparatus comprising, a hopper having spaced compartments, a swingably mounted spout on the hopper for alternately filling the compartments, a horizontally disposed leveler blade in the hopper adapted to level of! the top of a filled compartment andmove the spout to delivery position over an empty compartment, a vertically disposed shaft on the hopper connected to the blade for swinging the blade laterally, a lever on the bottom of the shaft for turning the shaft, a rock link pivoted centrally on the lever, valves controlling respective discharge openings in the bottom of the compartments, and rods connecting the ends of the rock link to respective valves for closing a discharge opening of an empty compartment and opening the valve of a filled compartment as the leveler blade moves the spout to delivery position over the empty compartment.

4. A grain measuring and sacking apparatus comprising, a hopper having spaced compartments, a filling spout swiveily mounted at one end on the wall in the hopper and inclined downwardly toward the center of the hopper above the compartments, a crank shaft fixed to the downwardly inclined end of the spout and journaled in the hopper oppositely from the spout, a horizontally swinging leveler blade in the hopper adapted to level off the top of a filled compartment and adapted to strike the downwardly inclined portion of the spout and move the spout to delivery position over the empty compartment, 8. chain connected to the blade and to the crank of the crank shaft adapted to permit the blade to pull the spout to delivery position above either compartment as the blade arrives at its limit of movement over the empty compartment, a vertically disposed shaft connected to the blade for actuating the blade, a manually operable lever for turning the vertically disposed shaft axially, valves controlling respective discharge openings in the bottom of the compartments, and means connected to the vertically disposed shaft adapted to close the valve of an empty compartment and to open the valve of a filled compartment as the leveler blade moves the spout to delivery position over the empty compartment.

5. A grain measuring and sacking apparatus comprising, a hopper having spaced compartments, 9. swingably mounted spout on the hopper for alternately filling the compartments, a leveler blade in the hopper adapted to swing across the top of the compartments and level off the top of a filled compartment and simultaneously move the spout to delivery position over the empty compartment, means for moving the blade, a plate closing the bottom of the compartments having discharge openings for the compartments, mechanically operated valves pivoted at one corner on the plate controlling a respective discharge opening, a manually operable valve yieldably latched to each mechanically operated valve and carried as a unit with the valve, said manually operable valve being adapted to be moved to closed position independently of the mechanically operated valve to prevent excess grain wasting through the delivery opening, and means connecting the leveler blade to the mechanically operated valves adapted to close the valve of an empty compartment and open the valve of a filled compartment as the leveler blade moves the spout to delivery position over the emp y compartment.

6. A grain measuring, sacking and counting apparatus comprising, a hopper having spaced compartments, a swingably mounted spout on the hopper for alternately filling the compartments, a leveler blade in the hopper adapted to swing transversely and level of! the top of a filled compartment and to simultaneously move the spout to delivery position over the empty compartment, a vertically disposed shaft for moving the blade. a handle lever projecting horizontally from the top of the shaft for rocking the shaft axially to swing the blade, valves controlling respective discharge openings in the bottom of the compartments, means connected to the bottom of the shaft adapted to close the valve of an empty compartment and open the valve of a filled compartment as the leveler blade moves the spout to delivery position over the empty compartment, a rock link centrally pivoted to the hopper and having the upper end provided with a fork receiving the handle lever, a ratchet wheel controlled counting mechanism, and a rod connecting the rock lever with the lower end of the rock link for advancing the counting mechanism a step each time the leveler blade is swung from one limit of movement to its opposite limit of movement.

7. A grain measuring and sacking apparatus comprising, a hopper having spaced commments, a swingably mounted spout on the hopper for alternately filling the compartments, a leveler blade in the hopper adapted to level oi! the top of a filled compartment and to move the spout to delivery position over the empty compartment, means for moving the blade, valves controlling respective discharge openings in the bottom of the compartments, means connected to the leveler blade and adapted to close the valve of an empty compartment and open the valve of a filled compartment as the leveler blade moves the spout to delivery position over the empty compartment, means for locking the leveler blade in released position, and grain operated means for releasing the locking means only when there is a full compartment of grain in the hopper.

SPENCER E. FINCH. 

